


Indolence

by Chocchi



Series: Close Calls [4]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 04:30:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2010987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocchi/pseuds/Chocchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Overall, it’s pretty pleasant, and although Yosuke has a vague notion of wanting to know where he is, he turns his face further into the soft covering and snuggles down again instead, sighing contentedly.<br/>There are more quiet footsteps, the creak of floorboards, and then a hand on Yosuke’s shoulder.<br/>“Hey, Yosuke,” someone says, low and fond, and it’s Souji.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Indolence

**Author's Note:**

> hey, guys!  
> this isn't quite up to par with the rest of the series, if you ask me, so, uh, sorry about that. this has just kind of been hanging out in my drafts for a while, and i decided to put it out there.  
> to be honest, i'm on more of a persona 3 kick right now, and i haven't played p4 in quite a while… so it might be some time before my interest picks up again and i continue this series. we'll see how it turns out, i guess!

It’s warm.

Everything else comes to Yosuke in a lazy stream-- above and around him, tucked up to his ears, is something soft, but whatever he’s lying on is too stiff to really be comfortable; the soft thing does not cover his entire body, and his feet aren’t as warm as the rest of him; there’s a quiet clamor of kitchen noises, clattering pans and clinking silverware and the _vwish-thud_ of a fridge opening, close to where he lies; somewhere above him are muffled footsteps, the sound of people moving on a higher floor; something smells good.

Overall, it’s pretty pleasant, and although Yosuke has a vague notion of wanting to know where he is, he turns his face further into the soft covering and snuggles down again instead, sighing contentedly.

There are more quiet footsteps, the creak of floorboards, and then a hand on Yosuke’s shoulder.

“Hey, Yosuke,” someone says, low and fond, and it’s Souji.

“Mm,” Yosuke murmurs. “P’rtner?”

“Yeah,” Souji chuckles, and the hand drifts up a little, ruffling Yosuke’s hair. “How are you feeling, buddy?”

“Good,” Yosuke tells him, yawning widely.

“That’s good,” Souji says. His hand slips away. “You feel up to opening your eyes and maybe eating something, or do you want me to leave you alone so you can go back to sleep?”

Yosuke’s carefully considering his options ( _Souji’s food and company, or soft warmth?_ ) when his stomach growls.

Souji laughs. Yosuke sighs in defeat, pressing his face into the softness one last time. “‘M up, ‘m up.”

“No rush,” Souji says, sounding amused. Yosuke finally pries his eyelids open to give him a squinty glare, then blinks, dazed, at his surroundings. “Sorry about the couch, Yukiko’s on my bed already.”

Oh. Right. Retrieving Mitsuo.

“Is she okay?” Yosuke croaks, gathering the blanket around him as he slowly forces his battered muscles to heave him upright.

Souji winces. “She was pretty beat up, but she’ll-- she’ll be okay. She’s got the entire rest of the investigation team up there fussing over her right now.”

“Not you?”

“Kanji kicked me out because I kept pacing,” Souji mutters, and Yosuke snorts. “Also, I didn’t want to leave you down here completely alone.”

“But I was sleeping,” Yosuke points out.

“But what if you’d woken up and you needed something?”

“What happened to _me?_ ” Yosuke asks, baffled. He’s sore, but not overly so-- he just feels like he had a hard afternoon of battling. He doesn’t remembering anything horrible happening to him. He remembers beating Mitsuo’s shadow, and having to heal Yukiko as best they could while they hurried her out of the dungeon, even remembers getting to Souji’s house now that he’s focusing-- but he can’t remember what the hell happened that would have Souji fussing over him. He’s just _tired_.

“You were pretty wiped out by the time we got back to Junes,” Souji tells him. “Mitsuo kept… He kept doing things that would make you and Yukiko really tired, remember? Or completely freaked out. Your body probably didn’t like all the adrenaline surges. I think you just kind of crashed as soon as you got someplace safe again.”

“Okay,” Yosuke says. He doesn’t really feel up to thinking too hard about this. Souji’s probably right. “But Yukiko’s okay?”

“She’s gonna be fine,” Souji assures him. He gives Yosuke’s shoulder another squeeze. “I put some onigiri together. Want some?”

“Yeah,” Yosuke yawns. He gathers the blanket around himself and slides ( _very_ gracefully, thank you very much) off the couch so he’s sitting-- well, leaning against-- the table. Souji snorts and ducks back over to the kitchen, quickly return with a platter of onigiri. Yosuke blinks at them. “There’s a lot.”

“Didn’t know what else to do with myself,” Souji mumbles, a little sheepishly.

“Still,” Yosuke says. He picks an onigiri up, to nibble on, and notices that the curtains are drawn. “How long was I out?”

“Couple hours,” Souji says. He picks at his own onigiri. “It’s pretty late. I already called your parents and said you were staying over to study.”

“They didn’t ask why I didn’t call myself?”

“I told them you were busy arguing with Chie.” Souji’s lips curl up at the edges. Yosuke makes a face at him, but any retort he could make is interrupted by the creak of the stairs and what sounds like increased fussing. A long moment later, Yukiko stumbles away from the stairs, leaning heavily on Chie.

“Food,” she mumbles, shoving away from Chie to sink down next to Souji at the table.

“Food,” Souji agrees.

“You’re alive,” Chie marvels, to Yosuke.

“Don’t get _too_ excited,” he grumbles. He takes a bigger bite of his onigiri.

“I’m thrilled, can’t you tell?”

“Shut up,” Yosuke says, because he still feels warm and sore and not much like moving, or really doing anything that involves effort at all. Chie seems to recognize and grudgingly accept this, and flops down at his side.

“Thanks for feeding us,” she tells Souji, around a mouthful of rice.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Souji says, almost automatically, then flushes a little when Yukiko and Yosuke snicker at him. “You’re welcome.”

They all eat in peace for a moment, before Kanji, Rise and Teddie come crashing down the stairs. Ted’s practically hanging off Rise’s arm, chattering away excitedly, but as soon as she gets Souji in her sights, she flounces over.

“Aw, Senpai, did you cook for us?” she coos, snatching up one of the onigiri.

“Yeah,” Souji nudges the plate into the center of the table, rather than mostly in front of Yosuke. Yosuke frowns at him. “Have as many as you like, there’s plenty.”

“I wish I could,” Rise sighs, dramatically. “But I have to get home soon, or my grandmother will worry.”

“You’re fine to walk home on your own?” Souji asks, a little fretfully. Yosuke never would have thought Souji could possibly be a _bigger_ mother hen than he already is normally if he hadn’t seen how Souji gets after a big battle.

“Kanji-kun already offered to walk me,” Rise says, nibbling at her onigiri delicately. Kanji, for his part, is unashamedly taking as many onigiri as he can hold, and merely grunts in acknowledgement.

“What a gentleman,” laughs Yukiko.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kanji grumbles. “I gotta get home too, don’t want my mom to make a fuss. See you later, Senpai.”

“Bye, Rise-chan!” Teddie says, flopping down next to Yosuke. “Bye, Kanji!”

“Bye, guys,” Souji says. “Good work today. Make sure you get some rest.”

“Not all of us managed to exhaust ourselves like sleeping beauty over here,” Kanji says, over his shoulder. Yosuke cheerfully flips him off. It would be more satisfying if he was looking.

“Bye, guys!” Rise calls, as the door shuts behind them.

“So, brave leader,” Chie says. She swipes the onigiri Yosuke was about to take, elbowing him playfully in the ribs ( _fucking ow!_ ). “What should we do for the rest of the afternoon?”

“We could watch TV,” Souji says, doubtfully.

“Video games,” Yosuke suggests.

“ _No_ ,” Yukiko groans. “I don’t want to see another video game for as long as I live.”

“We could go around town meeting pretty girls!” Teddie cries.

“I don’t think any of us have the energy for that,” Souji says.

Chie narrows her eyes. “Does anybody actually feel like doing anything more active than eating all of Souji’s food and whining about all the homework we’re not doing? And maybe sleeping some more?”

They all take a moment to consider this.

“Nah,” Yosuke decides.

“Dibs couch,” Yukiko says, staggering over to it.

“Share the couch,” Chie insists. Yukiko nods agreeably, moving over to make more room for her. They look so calm and relaxed, almost sleepy, that Souji and Yosuke both jerk in surprise when Chie’s foot slams forward against Teddie’s shoulder when he tries to climb up next to them.

“Chie-chan!” Teddie wheezes. His face is the very picture of _betrayed_.

“Girls-only couch time,” Yukiko says, primly. She stretches out luxuriantly, Chie tucked between her back and the back of the couch.

“But it’s _my_ couch,” Souji mumbles.

“Not during girls-only couch time,” Chie says.

“If you’re taking the couch, we’re taking the food,” Yosuke decides, reaching for the platter of onigiri.

“Go ahead,” Yukiko yawns.

“No, wait, lemme take just one more,” Chie says. She pushes herself up onto one elbow and makes to reach. Yukiko makes a disgruntled noise and pushes her back down. “Yukiko, come on!”

“You’re warm and comfortable, stop moving,” Yukiko says.

“ _Girls_ , man,” Yosuke says, to Souji. Souji just rolls his eyes at him. “Come on, let’s go hang out in your room.”

“I’m coming!” Teddy cries, scrambling to his feet. Yosuke gives Souji a mournful look. Souji raises his eyebrows.

“Fine,” Yosuke says. “But I’m not sharing the bed.”

“It’s _my_ bed,” Souji says, “And maybe I’m not going to kick _Yukiko_ off the couch, but if you think that I won’t at least force _you_ to share _my_ bed, you have another thing coming to you.”

“ _Souji_ ,” Yosuke whines.

“Come and get me if you need anything,” Souji tells the girls. “Help yourselves to the fridge.”

Yukiko makes a sleepy sound of acceptance. Chie grumbles, but settles down with a thumbs up to Souji.

Yosuke decides it’s high time to retreat before she gets antsy and decides she wants his food again.


End file.
